The Gentle Art of Making Resolutions and Making Them Come True
By George A. Boyd © 2018
As we again come to the turning of a new year, you may be making new resolutions that you hope to accomplish in the the coming 12 months of 2019. It is a common experience for people to set resolutions, and not follow though on them, despite their best intentions.
It is important to understand the mechanism through which you actually carry out a resolution. This process starts with getting an idea of what you want to change or implement in your life. If you are clear about the exact process through which you turn an idea into reality—which we call concretizing ideas—you can begin to actualize your resolutions and produce the change that you want.
I have written on this topic, and I share it with you here:
Concretizing Ideas
By George A. Boyd © 2017
It is relatively easy to get an idea. You can brainstorm. You can get a tip from someone. You can listen to advice from a friend or relative. You can read something in a book or on the Internet.
Ideas are plentiful. There is no shortage of ideas. Maybe there is a plethora of ideas in the world, with so many opinions and no one seems to agree what is the right idea is to solve your problem.
But in spite of this, you have settled on an idea that you believe will solve your problem; something you believe is a workable solution to your dilemma. But how do you run with this idea? How do you turn it into action?
- You first need a vision of how you will implement it.
- You examine alternate ways to implement it.
- You select the best alternative, based on your research and the information that you have.
- You set a goal to achieve it.
- You make a step-by-step plan to implement it.
- You make a commitment to the plan and determine you will do whatever is necessary to make it happen.
- You take action, working on the first step of your plan.
- You monitor the effects of your actions, and you adjust your course if necessary.
- You arrive at your goal. You have made your idea real.
- You measure your effectiveness in achieving this goal and look for ways to improve on your performance and your product.
People typically get stuck at steps one, six, and eight.
People get stuck at step one when they don’t know how to do it. This requires that they learn how to do it.
They get stuck at step six because they have lingering doubts, and they can’t make a commitment to their goal. So they procrastinate.
They get stuck at step eight when things go wrong or are don’t go as expected. They often give up here.
Think on these steps and see if you can take an idea and bring it to fruition and make it real. The more you do this, the more effective you become at translating ideas into reality.
Think about what you do that sabotages your resolutions year after year. Try using this ten step process and see if you aren’t able to actually carry out your resolutions this year.
